The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your highly skilled deputy headteacher provide strong leadership. This is a very different school now compared with the time of its previous inspection. As the village of Lightmoor has grown, pupil numbers have soared and the school has grown significantly in size. All the parents I spoke with, as well as the vast majority who completed the online questionnaire, Parent View, are very pleased with the way leaders, governors and staff have managed the improvements. The vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the education and welfare provided for their children. Together with your governing body, you and your deputy headteacher have been diligent and effective in managing staff changes as the need for more staff has increased in the last five years. The intelligent recruitment of key leaders and staff has strengthened the teaching and the quality of support provided for pupils. Governance has improved, having been highlighted as needing further improvement at the time of the previous inspection. Governors are more skilled and effective than previously. The governing body is both supportive and challenging in holding leaders and staff to account for pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance. The school is a positive and inclusive community and you strongly believe in considering the needs of pupils first when planning improvements. Pupils are enthusiastic and very well-behaved learners. They thrive, succeed and enjoy their education. Many pupils told me that they love coming to school, as one group confirmed, ‘This is a great school, you make friends easily and learning is fun.’ Others in the group agreed, as well as confirming how safe pupils feel. Pupils who are members of ‘Team Safe’ told me, ‘We make sure that everyone is safe by checking if pupils are behaving and treating each other well.’ Team Safe is a good initiative involving pupils in the management and welfare of other pupils. Along with other responsibilities, such as being school councillors, monitors, librarians and play leaders, pupils represent the views of others and make a significant contribution to their school community. You and your staff plan a creative and varied curriculum that enlivens pupils. The curriculum and teaching make a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils’ personal and academic development are enhanced by a broad and interesting range of topics, visits and additional extra-curricular sports and activities. The staff value pupils’ work and efforts and this is clearly demonstrated in the excellent displays of work around the school and in classrooms. These include accounts of educational visits to local museums, studies of ancient civilisations and examples of high-quality two- and three-dimensional art and design, including fine art using different media such as paint, chalk and ink. Additional activities and clubs enable pupils to engage in a range of sports, games and musical ensembles performed by the school’s brass band. Pupils’ achievement continues to improve, especially in mathematics. Last year’s national assessments show that, in both key stage 1 and key stage 2, pupils reached above-average standards in reading and writing and high standards in mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other pupils nationally who are not disadvantaged. There are no significant differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities also achieve well and make good progress towards their individualised learning targets. The expert support and intervention programmes provided by teachers and highly skilled teaching assistants are very effective in helping pupils who have additional learning needs. Good early years provision has been maintained. Reception children get off to a good start and reach standards that are above those seen nationally. Assessments show that over the last three years there has been a sustained improvement to the proportion of Reception children reaching a good level of development. Despite these positive outcomes, there is room for more improvement. The most recent national assessments show that some of the most able pupils fall short of reaching high standards or learning in greater depth in reading and writing. Leaders and staff have given this appropriate attention and this is reflected in the school’s development plan. Currently, there are indications that more focused support for the most able pupils is already increasing the proportion reaching high standards. You and your deputy headteacher play an active role with other schools in the teaching alliance to train, develop and recruit teachers and support staff. Highly effective staff development, training, coaching and mentoring have ensured that the school provides nothing less than good teaching. The close working relationships with other schools in the teaching alliance enable staff to see and share best practice. This is having a positive effect on many different aspects of teaching and learning. Teachers and support staff are very good at teaching phonics in the early years and key stage 1. The most recent national results show that all pupils reached the expected standard in the phonics screening check in both Year 1 and Year 2. This lays strong foundations for pupils’ early development in reading and writing and accounts for pupils’ accurate spelling when writing independently. However, because staff do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to develop their spoken language, some pupils’ writing could show a wider range of vocabulary. Teachers set consistent expectations for pupils’ writing and this is reflected in neat presentation, well-formed handwriting and accurate spelling and punctuation. The form and structure of pupils’ writing are improving well as they progress through the school. However, I noticed that teachers and supporting adults do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to answer questions fully or discuss, share and generate ideas orally with their classmates. In some cases, the questions posed by teachers do not enable pupils to think deeply and pupils are sometimes interrupted when trying to answer questions as adults try to move the lesson on, without giving pupils time to reflect or discuss their ideas fully. These general features of the teaching limit pupils’ use of speech, language and vocabulary and this sometimes stifles the range and quality of their independent writing. Safeguarding is effective. Safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose. Staff vetting and checking systems are rigorous. All the parents I spoke to and those responding to the online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that pupils are safe in school and are well cared for by the staff. Senior leaders and those in charge of each key stage keep robust records to follow up absenteeism to make sure that pupils are safe when not in school. There is a very effective nurture programme which fosters strong relationships with pupils and families. There are well-defined and clear referral procedures so that teaching, support, administrative and ancillary staff are aware of whom to go to if they are concerned about a child’s welfare or safety. Pupils who are members of Team Safe also play a significant role in ensuring that pupils are safe. Inspection findings Leaders, governors and staff are committed to continuous improvement. The deputy headteacher manages assessment information very well. You and your senior management team ensure that staff present regular assessment updates during review meetings to identify whether pupils are on track to reach their expected learning targets. This level of scrutiny is effective, as the school identified from last year’s assessments that boys were achieving less well than girls in reading and writing. Interventions and additional support for boys’ reading are already having an impact as differences between boys’ progress and that of girls are reducing.